Sometimes the Universe Isn't Forever
by Artemis1292
Summary: Jenna Anderson, a newly graduated Ensign aboard the USS Intrepid. Just an average girl living an average life. So why did everything have to go wrong? And why did she have to meet him? Eh, my summaries are terrible. Not a MS, rating may change, OCx?


**Author's Note:** Hello people who are reading my story. The pairing is either going to be Kirk/oc, McCoy/oc, or Spock/oc, so I'd love some input on that. And trust me, she is not a mary-sue! If, as the story progresses, she seems like that please let me know so I can fix her. Thanks!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything to do with the Star Trek Universe. Just my OCs

* * *

**Chapter 1:**

The sun had begun its slow descent behind the towering, snow-capped Rocky Mountains in the American Northwest. Deep, vibrant colors began to paint themselves across the spacious sky, replacing the pure, blue, cloudless expanse with a sea of royal purple, scarlet red, and molten gold. Shadows stretched themselves across the low lands of the prairie in the shade of the great mountains. A peaceful hush settled over the land as the sun continued on its journey, the dim of twilight fast approaching.

Jenna Anderson frowned in displeasure at the data pad on her lap. No matter how many times she had attempted it she always failed to recreate the magnificence of a sunset. It was true, she was no artist, she could draw a rough rendition of a person and other little things that even children could draw, in fact, the only thing she could consider as good were her horses. Over the years her hundreds, if not thousands, of sketches and studies of horses had finally given her something that she could draw adequately. Sunsets on the other hand, were out of the question. She had always wanted to be able to paint the tablet as the colors spread themselves across the sky, but her dull-colored streaks showed no comparison to the spectacular picture before her. Had she been using paper, as people had centuries before, there would be a mountainous stack of crumpled wads beside her.

She leaned back against the grassy hillock she was sitting on, pulling up a few green stalks as she continued to watch the sunset. Some of the emerald pieces fell from her grasp, landing across her vibrant red cadet uniform. She had arrived at her family's homestead about an hour before, not even taking the time to change her attire, she had said a quick hello to her parents, her aunt and uncle, her younger brothers, and her cousins, and then headed out to the place she had gone to for years to watch the sunset.

Starfleet must have had a sick sense of humor. They had sent the graduating cadet class on a short vacation right after exams were completed, and there would be no way to find out results until they returned two weeks later. So, an entire class of cadets was left to worry about passing and assignments on their last vacation before either joining a starship crew or failing and going back to whatever lives they had before they had been recruited.

Jenna brushed herself off and stood as the golden rim of the sun finally disappeared beyond the ridge of the mountains. She meandered in the direction of the house, the light from the large fireplace shining cheerily through the windows. By the time she reached the porch the night had grown far darker, an inky blackness penetrated only by the warm firelight, the brilliant pinpricks of the stars, and the soft glow of the moon.

She paused a moment as she stood on the porch. Inside, she could see her family gathered around the fireplace laughing, probably at one of Uncle Mac's far-fetched tales of exploring the galaxy when he had served on the freighter _Suzette_, Suzy, as he called her. Her still-adorable twelve-year old brothers, Jonathon and James, or Jonny and Jimmy, were tinkering with the spare parts of some unfortunate machine on the rug-covered wood floor. Her cousin Annabelle was reading a PADD, undoubtedly about some celebrity from Mars or Xion. Lindsey, Annabelle's older sister was playing chess with Aunt Mara. Neither of her parents could be seen from the window, but they were probably in the near vicinity.

She stepped up to the door and placed her hand on the scanner, the automatic door sliding open with a nearly inaudible 'whoosh'. She entered the warm room of her family's home and was immediately bombarded by identical brown haired boys, their blue eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Jenna! Jenna!" She laughed and bent down to envelope them both in a hug. Soon they would be the one leaning over to hug her. They would be quite the lady-killers in a few years, she was sure of it.

A few seconds later she was having the life squeezed out of her by her boisterous uncle, a tall broad-shouldered man with a thick black beard and crinkly blue eyes.

"There she is!" He exclaimed with a booming laugh. "Our Starfleet graduate. You gonna take the time to say a real hello this time missy?"

"Of course I am Uncle Mac, and I'm not a graduate yet, the final grades won't be up till I get back."

"Nonsense, why hold off on the inevitable?" Her uncle asked, still laughing, as he released her from his death-grip and set her back on her feet.

By this time the rest of the family had joined them, save for Annabelle who was still glued to her PADD.

"Welcome home sweetie!" Her blond-haired, petit mother, Laura Anderson exclaimed, wrapping her in yet another hug.

Next was Aunt Mara, a tall, redheaded Irish woman with a temper and love of whiskey to match the stereotype, as well as a phenomenal cook. Her aunt was followed by Lindsey, her tall black-haired cousin who was two years older than the twenty-four year old cadet, and studying to be a doctor. Annabelle, also black-haired, waved from her seat, not that it was very surprising, she had always been obsessed when it came to pop culture; her entire room was filled with holograms of various 'hotties'.

Lastly she was met by her father, a smaller man in comparison to his brother, Tom Anderson was still good-looking even as he inched towards old age, dark-haired, with just a bit of grey, lean yet muscular. He had followed in his family's tradition of ranching.

Jenna took after him the most, her tall, lanky build, blue eyes, and old-fashioned ways. She had inherited her mother's blonde hair, but other than that didn't share much in common which the smaller woman.

"We've already eaten, but I kept some corn muffins and chili in the oven for you." Her mother said, smiling warmly.

"Thanks mom, I've been starving for one of you meals." Jenna said grinning as she headed towards the darkened kitchen.

"Lights." She commanded the computer, which instantly lit the bright lights, illuminating the room.

True to her mother's word, a steaming bowl of chili and a few warm corn muffins were sitting in the oven.

* * *

The time flew by far quicker than Jenna had expected. Her days were spent helping her father and uncle on the ranch, riding her favorite horse, Deimos, exploring and swimming with her brothers, helping her mother and aunt in the kitchen, and sleeping. Lots of sleeping. At Starfleet she never got more than 7 hours of sleep a night, and that was on a rare day.

More than a week had passed since she had arrived. Just a few more days until she would return to Starfleet.

She walked into the well-lit kitchen, her mother just pulling a tray of what looked to be muffins out of the oven.

"Morning Mom." Jenna greeted with a smile.

"Good morning Jenna, help yourself." The older woman said, placing the tray on the counter before heading over to a sink to wash her hands. "If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you took your brothers with you today, I can't watch them and you know their knack for trouble."

"Sure Mom, it's not a problem." She replied, taking a bite out of the muffin and heading back towards the stairs to the loft-style upper-floor.

"Boys! Breakfast is on the counter!" Jenna yelled and the stood back against the wall as two blurs rushed past her heading in the direction of the kitchen.

An hour later the three had saddled their horses and ridden out into the Way-Back, the outermost pastures on the ranch.

"Do ya know which ship you're gettin?" Jonny asked his older sister, Jimmy, on her other side, looking just as curious.

"Nope, not a clue, I won't know till I get back."

"Do ya think we could come with ya and stowaway all sneaky like?"

"Yeah! Then we could help you in engineering and see a real Starship!"

Jenna couldn't help but giggle, images of a massive chain explosion and a distraught Head Engineer running through her mind. "I don't think blowing up things counts as helping boys."

"We don't blow things up, mostly." Jimmy mumbled sounding slightly sheepish.

Jenna laughed again before urging Deimos into a gallop, her brothers following with excited whoops.

It was almost a shame that she would be going back, nothing would ever compare to the feeling of being home.

* * *

Jenna stepped off the shuttle, shielding her eyes against the rare show of sun in San Francisco. She ran her hands nervously over her crisp uniform. This was it, the day she would find out her future. She mentally smacked herself on the head for that corny sounding thought.

She joined the large mass of red that was streaming onto the campus's grounds. Amidst the nearly discernable group, she suddenly spotted a familiar face.

"Neila!" The girl in question, a slender Deltan turned and waved exuberantly.

"Jenna! How was your break?" She asked after forcing her way through the crowd.

"Relaxing and stressful at the same time, how about yours?"

"The same, of course. How are those cute little brothers of yours?"

"Growing more handsome by the minute, they'll be heart-breakers, that's for sure."

Neila laughed in agreement.

"Come on, we'll be getting our results and assignments from our COs. We gotta go find Commander Garz." The Deltan began pulling her friend in the direction of the main hanger.

The two cadets waded through their classmates, finally breaking through and entering the doors of the hanger nearly a half hour later.

They reached their squadron and waited at attention for Commander Garz, a strict Cardassian male with a surprising soft spot for pranksters.

He eventually made his way to them. "Well cadets, this is it. Those of you who passed who passed will receive your congratulations and assignment from Admiral Pike momentarily. Those of you who did not will be given two days to clear out your rooms and head home. Remember this, there is no shame in not passing, this is a very rigorous program and you will not be the first, or the last. So I don't want any bawling or hysterics."

Jenna's gut clenched in nervousness at Garz's little pep talk. She hoped she wasn't among those who failed. Her hands became sweaty and she resisted the urge to wipe them on her uniform.

Finally the Admiral made his way over to them after finishing with Commander Tonx and Commander Richards. The Commander pushing his wheel chair taking his time, in her opinion. He stopped in from of the first Cadet, two down from her.

"Cadet Abrams, congratulations, you are assigned to medical on the USS Nova." The cadet thanked him, sounding relieved.

"Cadet Allen," Pike approached the mousy girl standing next to her, Marcy Allen, a Xenolinguistics major, "Congratulations, you are assigned to communications aboard the USS Eriksson."

And then he was in front of her. His strict, yet kind face smiling up at her. "Cadet Anderson," she held her breath, "Congratulations, you are assigned to engineering aboard the USS Intrepid.

"Thank you, sir." She whispered, smiling as she shook his hand.

He moved on down the line, giving out congratulations and assignments, as well as a few disappointments. Then he reached Neila, the last person in their squadron.

"Cadet Zyrax, congratulations, you are assigned to navigation aboard the USS Intrepid."

"Cadets, you have officially graduated from this academy, congratulations and good luck on your future missions. You will report to your shuttles in Hanger A at 0800. Dismissed."

The squadron waited until the Admiral was wheeled away before letting loose.

"Yesss!!!" Jenna was suddenly nearly bowled over by a squealing Neila. "We're both on the Intrepid! I mean, it's not the Enterprise but still!"

Jenna smiled and hugged her friend. It was true, she had been hoping for the Enterprise, not only was she the most beautiful Starship in the fleet, but the Head Engineer was Montgomery Scott, a brilliant man with a real appreciation for engineering. She would have loved to work with him, but the Intrepid was by no means a bad substitute.

She felt slightly guilty when she passed by Cadet Levin who had tears running silently down her face, and Cadet Baron who was staring at the ground sullenly. But it wasn't her problem.

"You need to get some confidence girl!" Neila was saying excitedly, "I told you you'd pass! You always get stressed over the smallest things, relax a bit!"

Jenna just rolled her eyes.

"PARTY IN THE COMMONS TONIGHT!" Neila suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs, a resounding cheer echoing through the hanger to the irritation of the officers.

* * *

"No." Jenna said firmly, sitting on her chair and folding her arms.

"Please!" Neila begged, sticking out her bottom lip and fluttering her eyelashes.

"No."

"But Jenna."

"No."

"It's just one little party."

"No."

"You don't have to drink anything if you don't want to."

"No."

"Pretty please!"

"No." She pulled out a pair of handcuffs from the desk drawer, snapped one to her left wrist and the other to one of the desk legs and then sat back and raised an eyebrow at her best friend.

"You're no fun, wait, why do you have handcuffs?" A suggestive smile spread over Neila's face.

Jenna's mouth fell open and her face went red. "Not for _that_ you pervert!" She squeaked. "Sometimes I need them for when my brothers get rowdy."

"Sure, sure." Neila said, still smiling.

"Oh just get out of here." Jenna growled.

"Fine, but your missing out. God knows you need to find yourself a man. Bet there'll be tons there who would be interested in handcuffs."

"Neila!" Jenna threw one of her boots at her laughing roommate, which bounced off the already closing door and hit her on the arm. She rubbed the spot with a scowl and then opened up the drawer to retrieve the key to the cuffs. This would have been fine, except she couldn't seem to feel the small metal object.

"Oh come on." She muttered, feeling around in the cramped space. Her heart sank when she came up empty. Her movements frantic, she searched through the drawer, dumping out gadgets and tools and holograms. Nothing. She looked over at the other drawer, at the far end of the desk. "Don't tell me it's in there, please don't tell me it's in there."

She stretched as far as she could, her fingers coming just short of the handle.

"You've got to be kidding!" She exclaimed putting her head in her free hand.

* * *

Some hours later she had managed to nod off when the door chime suddenly woke her. She started awake at the noise, sleepy eyes acknowledging a shape in the doorway. It was too early for Neila to be back, and as far as she knew know one else had the code to their room.

"Cadet?" A familiar voice asked. She went red as she realized who it was. Commander Garz.

"Computer, lights" Bright light flooded the small room at his command.

"Cadet Anderson, what is going on?" Her face flushed even more at the Commanders expression, half confused and half amused.

"Well sir, Neila was trying to get me to go to the party so I handcuffed myself to my desk so she couldn't force me. And, well sir, it appears as though the key is in the other drawer."

The Commander stared at her for a minute before throwing his head back and howling with laughter to her utter mortification.

Finally he stopped laughing and went to the drawer, fished out the key, and handed it to her. She immediately inserted it into the slot and released her sore wrist.

"What I don't understand Cadet, is why you didn't just pick the lock. You've got all these tools around here, and I know you are quite adept at that particular skill."

Jenna's mouth opened and closed a few times, making her look like a fish. She couldn't believe she had let herself sit in that damned chair for 3 hours when she could have just picked the stupid lock. Queue mental face-plant.

Her former Commanding Officer chuckled at her expression.

Attempting to regain her composure, she asked, "Commander Garz, if I may ask, why are you in our room at," she checked the time, "0200?"

"We're checking to see which Cadets refrained from going to the aforementioned party so that we have a head count before we crash it and they scatter."

"Ah." Jenna said, nodding her head in comprehension.

"Well, good night Cadet, and try not to get stuck in anymore handcuffs."

"Good night Commander." She replied as the door shut.

After he was gone she fell onto her bed in exhaustion, planning on finishing packing when she woke up the next morning.

* * *

Jenna was awakened by the computer at 0600 that morning.

Neila lay sprawled out on her bed, the covers ripped off and a bit of drool hanging out of her mouth. Who knew what time she had dragged herself back the night before.

Jenna went about her business, packing up her PADDs, tools, gadgets, and personal belongings into a Starfleet regulation duffle. Her clothing and hygienic items would be sent back to her home since it would be replaced onboard the Starship.

She slipped her Cadet reds on for the final time and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, before tugging on her black boots and setting her bag on the bed.

She glanced at the timepiece. 0645. Time to wake Neila up.

* * *

At 0800 sharp Jenna was standing in line with the other cadets who were assigned to the Intrepid. Amazingly Neila had managed to get up, packed, and be fairly presentable in the hour she had had, though her eyes were a bit red, her hair mussed, and she was wincing at every loud noise.

"It's your own fault." Jenna hissed to her as the Deltan's face scrunched up in pain for the umpteenth time.

"Oh shut up."

Suddenly the shuttle doors whooshed open, a black clad officer standing in the entrance with a PADD in her hands. The line of Cadets moved forward as they were checked in on her list.

"Ensign Anderson, Jenna C., take your seat please."

Jenna moved past the woman and sat beside a young looking black man.

"Max Overstreet." He said with a friendly grin, extending a hand in her direction.

"Jenna Anderson." She smiled back, shaking his hand firmly.

"Engineering?" He asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"An engineer can usually sniff out another engineer, plus most girls don't have a handshake as strong as that."

She laughed in agreement. " Well, looks like we'll be working together doesn't it."

"Hey, I'm not complaining." He said, winking at her.

"Whose your friend?" Neila asked as she plopped down beside her.

"Max, meet Neila Zyrax, Neila, this is Max Overstreet."

"Hey there handsome." Neila greeted with a wide grin.

"Hello beautiful." Max jokingly replied with a laugh.

"You know, I think we're going to get along real well."

Just then the shuttle engines started up, and the small craft sped out of the hanger and up out of the atmosphere towards the space dock.

"Would you look at that!" Max breathed as the massive space dock came into few, 6 large Starships hooked to it.

" Wow." Was all Jenna could say as she took in the sight of the gigantic, yet graceful form of the Intrepid.

Neila looked over at Max. "I think she just got her first crush." She said with a snicker.

Jenna was too awestruck by the magnificent vessel to retaliate.

* * *

Some minutes later they docked with the Starship with a gentle bump.

The former Cadets, now Ensigns and Lieutenants, unbuckled themselves and stood ready to board the ship.

The door slid open and they exited the shuttle.

A tall man with dark hair was waiting for them in the brightly lit launch bay.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the USS Intrepid."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, tell me what you thought. I'm in the middle of exams right now so I won't be able to update until Christmas break. Please let me know about pairing ideas!


End file.
